Operation Restore Legacy : An Epitome of Mnangagwa Anti-Mugabe Narrative - Research

On the 15th of November 2017, the world woke up to what has been referred to as 'a smart coup' which led to the resignation of Zimbabwe's longtime leader Robert Mugabe. The architects of the smart coup, the Zimbabwe Defense Forces, long time 'subtle' stockholders of nationalist politics, constructed a narrative that this was not a coup but rather an operation to restore legacy. By code naming the operation as 'Operation Restore Legacy,' the soldiers were absolving themselves from direct involvement in politics and at the same time constructing a narrative which appeared to be an effort to safeguard the gains of the liberation struggle and the legacy of the then President Robert Mugabe. In this regard, the paper argues that a common approach to the study of nationalist politics and political parties, such as ZANU-PF, is to locate them within the use of narratives. It is in this argument that the paper tries to locate the events of 15 November 2017 as a culmination of competing narratives in ZANU-PF. That is to say, Operation Restore Legacy should be assessed as a political myth constructed by Emmerson Mnangagwa in his long journey to wrestle power from former President Robert Mugabe. Consequently, the study with the use of familiar texts and literature available on Zimbabwean politics locates this as part of the long contestation for power between the incumbent, Emmerson Mnangagwa and his former boss.